香港客家想像機制的建立：1850-1950 年代的香港基督教巴色會

The Mechanism of the Hakka Imagination in Hong Kong: the Role Played by The Basel Mission in the 1850s-1950s

香港基督教崇真會的前身，為瑞士基督教新教差會巴色會（ TheBasel Mission） ， 1847 年其傳教士首次來港，主要向講客家話的群體傳教。此後百年間，它在香港及廣東省客家地區建立了 150 餘所教堂及聚會點，分佈在 25 個教區之中，擁有 7 所教堂的香港為其中一個教區。學者們已經從不同的角度關注到這一組織和香港客家認同建構的關係，本文試圖從地域研究的角度出發，探討其作為「客家教會」想像得以建立的歷史過程。從香港島城市社區，以及九龍半島及新界鄉村教會的建立過程上，可以看出在殖民地秩序環境之下，它成為吸納不同來源的客語移民的機制，亦成為香港社會想像客家的重要機制之一。至 20 世紀20 年代，這些教會已經逐漸形成整體性，並脫離瑞士巴色差會及中國大陸粵東地區的總會，從而取得對香港客家話語具影響力的立基點。

Tsung Tsin Mission of Hong Kong evolved from The Basel Mission, a Protestant missionary society founded in Switzerland in 1815. The missionaries came to Hong Kong in 1847 and preached to Hakka-speaking people there. Over the course of a century, they founded more than 150 Christian churches and gathering spots, all of which were distributed throughout the Hakka regions of the Hong Kong and Guangdong provinces. Hong Kong, which has 7 chuches, is one of the 25 parishes. For many scholars, this was one of the most important elements in the development of Hakka identity in Hong Kong. This paper explores the regional and historical context surrounding the creation of these “Hakka churches”. The author argues that the growth of Hakka Christian communities by the Basel Missionary Society in Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories reflcts the expansion of the ambulatory immigrant society and small traditional Hakka villages during British colonial rule. After the 1920s, these churches decided to establish the Tsung Tsin Mission of Hong Kong and split from both the Basel Mission in Switzerland and the Chinese Headquarters in Guang-dong.